Settled Rivalry
by TrackRunner73
Summary: Both girls know what lies ahead for themselves, and that the past can't be fixed. But neither of them particularly want to face any of it. Especially by talking to each other, their long-term rivals. Set during TTC. NOT a fem-slash.


**This is actually a mentioned part of **_**The Titan's Curse**_** that I decided to write. Right after Bianca is lost in the junkyard, the rest of them found an old truck. Thalia was up front driving with Zoё and Percy actually says that he wonders what they were talking about. Since I find their whole rivalry to be interesting, I decided to actually write this. There are possible little hints of Thuke, but I kind of had to put them in because that's what initially started their whole fighting.**

**I don't own PJO. (Especially not the little bit of dialogue I take from **_**The Titan's Curse**_** at the end)**

**Thalia POV**

Death. Even though I'm extremely familiar with it, I'm not the best at dealing with it. So sitting in a truck with Zoё, who I had been fighting with this entire quest, right after Bianca's death was awkward to say the least. I didn't even have Grover or Percy with me since they were in the back talking about who knows what. Neither of us spoke for a while as I drove through the deserted roads and Zoё cried silently. She had her head turned the other way, trying to hide her tears. As heartless as I may sound, I wasn't really upset over Bianca's death. I wasn't really close with her, so I was angrier over it than I was upset.

I couldn't take the silence anymore, "You don't have to hide your face. I'm not going to make fun of you for crying."

She sniffled and turned to look at the road ahead. At least I made some progress.

"Why not?" she asked bitterly. "Isn't it part of thy nature to mock?"

Deciding not to snap at her, I shrugged, "I know that this definitely isn't an appropriate time to mock you. Death is something I understand."

"You've died before?"

The question certainly surprised me. I assumed she had overheard my story of becoming a tree while we had been at camp or something. I hadn't expected her to ask me about it though.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering what it is like."

"For Bianca?" I guessed. I didn't see any other reason for her to ask.

She nodded, though she seemed to be thinking of something else.

"To be honest," I told her, "I don't really know. I felt the pain of myself dying, but I never actually took the trip down to the Underworld. My father preserved my spirit in a tree when I died. I was brought back to life after the Golden Fleece was placed on the tree I inhabited. If you're worried about Bianca though, she'll most likely go to Elysium."

"Thou spoke the truth," she said in almost a whisper, "I am a conceited brat. I should never have made her come." She agreed to her being a brat? I had meant it to an extent when I called her one, but I was mostly saying that out of anger.

"Don't waste your time blaming yourself for her death. She sacrificed herself for us. I've sacrificed myself for my friends before. And in my opinion, it's the boldest way to die. I would have never wanted those I saved to blame themselves."

I was careful not to say Luke or Annabeth's names. If I did, I probably would've started bugging out. Because there I was with the girl I practically helped raise having been kidnapped and the guy who once meant everything to me having kidnapped her. In my nightmares I kept seeing images of Luke beating Annabeth up or screaming stuff at her. Part of me knew they weren't real, but my other half kept nagging me about how easily that could happen now. The thought made me sick to my stomach.

"Does this death not affect thee at all?" she snapped at me, slowly returning to her normal self. If she truly believed that, I guess she had a right to be mad. She had no idea how much Bianca's death was actually bothering me though.

"Contrary to your belief, I'm not the spawn of a demon. I have a heart," I growled. "I just didn't know her that well. I kept my distance."

This only seemed to tick her off more.

Before she could say anything, I spoke again, "Because I knew the consequences of the choice she was making."

"Joining the Hunt?" she snarled. "Thou does not know anything of it!"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" I shouted back. "I was talking about her choice to abandon what little family she had left." I thought about the perky annoying little brother she ditched. She was all he had and she left him to fend for himself at camp. He would be taken care of there, yet what could he have possibly done to her to make her want to leave him so badly. He was pretty damn obnoxious half the time, but that's not much of a reason to just ditch the kid.

Zoё just looked at me in shock, silently egging me to continue.

I was still pissed at her though, "You think you know everything about me? You have no idea. My mom was a drunk that barely cared about me, and so I ditched her. It seemed okay at the time because she was awful to me, but I came back to life to find out she died. She died with me mad at her, because I left instead of getting her help. She could still be alive today." I didn't know why I was explaining this to Zoё of all people, yet it felt good to just let it out. My mom was something I rarely said anything about.

"I see the similarity," she agreed.

"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "Abandoning family and dying, we're like twins. Except I don't think she's coming back to life. And I'm not in the Hunt."

"May I ask again," she lured, "Why not?"

I gripped the steering wheel so tight I feared I'd crush it, "I don't want to talk about him." I was still careful not to say his name. He had joined the Titans like a little coward, poisoned my tree, and captured Annabeth. Not to mention all he's done to Percy. He's not the same Luke I knew.

Zoё doesn't know when to leave things alone though, "Were you truly _that_ smitten with him?"

"I don't even know what 'smitten' means! Please, use English!" I yelled in frustration. Why is it that every time we reach a level of understanding, she decides to set me off?

"I am!" she barked back. "Was thy love for him truly that strong?"

I'd like to say I took the question well. To be completely honest, it sent memories shooting through my mind so fast it felt like tiny needles kept jabbing at my brain. If nothing else, I had always thought of Luke as my family. He was more of a family to me than both my mom and dad. When Annabeth joined, that made us even more of a family. And at the same time, my relationship with Luke had become even closer. I had felt he wouldn't ever betray me, so I ignored the signs. It was just another one of my greatest regrets.

"I did love him," I admitted. "I'm just not sure what way I did."

She nodded, "And he betrayed thee. That is what the Hunt stands against: the cruelty of men."

I let out a dry laugh, "Girls are no walk in a park either. If you haven't noticed, we're pretty vicious. I figured you'd know that considering how often we're at each other's throats."

The following silence was yet again awkward. It never had to be said that Zoё and I didn't get along; it was like an unwritten rule of life. It had never really been brought up by either of us though. So neither of us knew what to say. Because we didn't hate each other's personalities. If anything, our attitudes were the only thing we respected about each other. It was just our beliefs and stubbornness over them that fueled the flames of our hate.

"Would thee ever consider the Hunt now?" her voice was almost inaudible. "If not, you know thy only other option."

The Great Prophecy. Being in the Hunt sounded bad, but the prophecy sounded even worse. I didn't trust myself not to turn on the gods. I had so many personal issues with almost all of them. I was afraid I would let my anger get the best of me and make the wrong choice out of spite. Percy should be the one for the prophecy. Even though he doesn't like all of them, he definitely has a lot more respect for them than I do. I trusted his choice more. And if I chose to save Olympus, I would feel like I was betraying Luke. Not that I cared about his feelings, I just didn't want to sink to his level. I would fight him to the death if I had to, but I didn't want to be the ring leader of a war against him. Because a one-on-one battle would settle our personal issues more. If that makes any sense at all.

I ran a hand through my dark hair, focusing my electric blue eyes solely on the road, "I don't know what I'm gonna do yet."

"If it changes anything," she added. "I will not be around after this quest. I will be the next to die."

"What are you talking about?" I honestly thought there was a good chance I would be the next one to die on the quest. _One shall perish by a parent's hand_. I didn't doubt it one bit that my dad would kill me. So I was kind of curious as to who Zoё's asshole parent could be that would kill her. I didn't push her on it though; I know how obnoxious it is to talk about parents.

She looked way and I'm pretty sure she was crying again, "I have been in the Hunt for ages and this is the end for me. Someone else had to take over. I thought it would be Bianca, but now she is gone. Think carefully about joining."

As bad as I felt, I only got angrier, "I feel bad now knowing you may be the other person to die on this quest, but please stop telling me what I should or shouldn't do. You don't know anything about me." In reality, she probably knew too much about me for her own good. Our toughness and way we dealt with things were parallel. I didn't want to hear it though. I hated having people try and persuade me. We didn't speak the rest of the ride even when the truck broke down. I got out and slammed the door before she could say anything.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

As Zoё rested in the arms of Artemis, slowly fading, she took my hand, "I am sorry we argued. We could have been sisters."

She was right. We could've been sisters, but I let my stubborn nature get the best of me. Now she was dying and we would never be sisters.

"It's my fault," I told her, meaning it completely. "You were right about Luke, about heroes, men-everything." If I had listened to her about Luke in the first place, maybe all of this would've been avoided. And now, thanks to Luke, I really did have issues trusting men. Because _he _betrayed me. Annabeth could've, but she didn't. _He _did.

"Perhaps not all men," Zoё murmured, smiling weakly at Percy.

I'll give her credit for that one. I did trust Percy. If even Zoё could approve of this guy, he had to be the right one for the prophecy. I would do anything to help Percy with the prophecy, but it couldn't be mine. I had already kicked my ex-best-friend off a cliff because I was close to the prophecy. I really didn't want to get any closer. And after talking with Zoё in the truck, the idea of joining the hunt started to seem less and less horrible.

I had been tuning out most of what she said to Percy, but I heard her repeat the word, "Stars."

I lowered my head as she passed out of respect. Because the girl I had hated most probably taught me more than anyone else. And in that moment I knew I was to be the next lieutenant of Artemis. All because of one stupid conversation on a truck ride.

**It wasn't as exciting as I originally thought, but I hope you all liked it anyway. I figured Zoё probably had a lot of influence as to why Thalia joined the Hunt, so that kind of inspired this. And I had the day off of school because of some teacher workshop so I figured, why not post something? Though trying to write in Zoё's dialect bothered me. I actually had to go check the book to see if she ever says 'you', but she actually does multiple times, so I hope I didn't butcher her way of speaking too much.**

**Anyway, I still hope you enjoyed this quick read, Gingerkid73. **


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